Robinhood and BNY Mellon launch app for Trump Accounts program

Robinhood and BNY Mellon are bringing a Trump Accounts app to Apple and Google app stores Thursday, giving families a digital front end for a federal savings program that blends government deposits, private account management and politically charged branding.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the rollout Wednesday at the White House, just ahead of the program’s July 4 launch. Treasury said BNY Mellon was designated as the financial agent for the Trump Accounts program, will manage the initial accounts and will help develop the app, while Robinhood will serve as brokerage and initial trustee. The app was described as having been designed by Joe Gebbia and the National Design Studio in partnership with BNY and Robinhood.

The program is already drawing large early interest. Nearly 6 million families have signed up for the tax-advantaged accounts, and as of March 31 taxpayers had enrolled more than 4 million children. Treasury said more than 1 million of those children were eligible for the government’s $1,000 pilot contribution.

Trump Accounts are built around a one-time $1,000 Treasury deposit for children born between 2025 and 2028, a direct public subsidy that places the federal government at the center of the product even as private firms handle key plumbing. That structure gives BNY Mellon a central administrative role and Robinhood a brokerage and trustee role, raising the stakes for how the accounts are presented, marketed and protected as the program moves from policy design to consumer app stores.

The app itself is intended to be more than a basic account dashboard. Officials said it will include eight financial literacy modules that families can access immediately, adding an educational layer to a product that sits at the intersection of civic policy and personal finance. BNY said it was honored to be selected as financial agent for Trump Accounts, and both BNY and Robinhood framed the project as a way to expand access to financial opportunity for American families.

The result is a rare federal-fintech partnership built around a name that is as much political brand as policy label. With Treasury funding the initial deposits, BNY Mellon managing accounts and Robinhood controlling the brokerage interface, the program’s public-trust test will be whether the safeguards are strong enough to keep a government-backed savings vehicle from becoming a marketing exercise dressed up as civic participation.